Mahmud Ahmadinejad (file photo) (epa)
March 6, 2007 -- Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad has pledged continued support for the Palestinian Hamas faction, but called for an end to infighting between Palestinian parties.

At a meeting with Ahmadinejad in Tehran, Hamas political leader Khalid Mish'al reiterated the faction's stance that it will never recognize Israel's right to exist.

Hamas agreed last month to form a unity government with the rival Fatah faction.

But Hamas is under strong pressure from Western governments to renounce violence and recognize Israel.

(AFP, dpa)

Iranian Anti-Zionism

President Ahmadinejad visiting the tomb of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in October (Fars)

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Each year in Iran, the last Friday of Ramadan is celebrated as Qods (Jerusalem) Day, officially a day for expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people. "I have been notifying the Muslims of the danger posed by the usurper Israel," Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, father of Iran's Islamic Revolution, said in an August 1979 announcement. "I ask all the Muslims of the world and the Muslim governments to join together to sever the hand of this usurper and its supporters...and, through a ceremony demonstrating the solidarity of Muslims worldwide, announce their support for the legitimate rights of the Muslim people..." (more)

INTERVIEW: On December 22, 2005, RFE/RL's Radio Farda spoke with FRED ZEIDMAN, director of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. Zeidman commented on Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad's anti-Israeli comments.